In the care of teeth it is important to remove accumulated deposits, called "calculus". This is now well known, and public education programs are carried out by both the dental profession and public health authorities with the intention that each person will take proper care of his or her teeth. Yet, in spite of all such efforts vast numbers of people do not take proper care of their teeth, with the result that dentists and dental hygienists must frequently remove calculus from the teeth of their patients before other treatments can be performed. This invention relates to an improved electromechanical apparatus for scaling teeth in a safe, gentle and effective way.
Teeth can be scaled by hand, using hand-scrapers made especially for the purpose, but that is a tiring and time-consuming process. To alleviate it, electromechanical scalers which vibrate mechanically at a high frequency, preferably above audible (ie: "ultrasonic"), have been introduced. Typically, prior electromechanical vibrating scalers are elongated tools that are driven into longitudinal vibration by an electromechanical transducer, to the end that one end of the tool when applied to the surface of a tooth will chip away the calculus deposited on that surface. These tools are effective, not only to remove calculus but, unfortunately, sometimes also to damage the tooth or the tissues surrounding it.